Dickenson says Barnes admitted conducting two schemes to embezzle money from ACI Boland Architects, where she started working in 1998 and became office manager in 2008.

She used the payroll system to inflate her salary by at least $1.6 million from 2006 to 2011 and created unauthorized payroll checks to herself of more than $3.6 million from 2010 until her resignation in March.

Barnes faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud, 30 years for bank fraud and two years for identity theft.